Marlborough High grad receives Fulbright grant

Wednesday

Jul 2, 2014 at 12:31 AM

By Kendall HatchDaily News Staff

MARLBOROUGH – A Marlborough High School graduate who just finished her undergraduate degree at the University of Rochester (N.Y.) will head to India this fall through the Fulbright U.S. Scholarship Program.Anisha Gundewar, a 2009 MHS graduate, will spend the next year in Mumbai conducting a public health study exploring community health and its relationship to existing social infrastructure among impoverished populations.Gundewar, one of six recipients of the grant at the University of Rochester, said in a phone interview Monday that although she got word she received the grant in April, the news is starting to sink in this summer amid a flurry of preparations she is making for the trip.Gundewar, who graduated this spring with a double major in Health, Behavior and Society and Microbiology, will conduct the research project working with Partners for Urban Knowledge, Action and Research, a non-profit organization based in Mumbai.Gundewar said she wants to examine ways in which the existing social structures in slum neighborhoods might be used to carry out public health initiatives.The Fulbright U.S. Student Program awards about 1,900 grants each year. Gundewar said she began the application process for the grant in May 2013. The program drives students to design their own project and work independently, which Gundewar said is a valuable part of the experience."The development of the project is all up to you," she said Monday. "The Fulbright projects are very self-driven."Gundewar is spending the summer working on an independent research project at the Strong Children’s Research Center in Rochester, examining the treatment and management of children with asthma, according to a notice on the university’s website.At the same time, she said she is trying to complete further research ahead of her trip and make preparations for several months out of the country.Gundewar is enrolled in an eight-year program at the university, where she plans to complete her medical degree after returning to the country.She said she thinks the experience will be a valuable one, especially as she heads into the first years of medical school upon her return. Gundewar said medical programs start off with dense scientific material, so a robust experience in public health will be a good experience from which to draw context.This will not be Gundewar’s first trip abroad. She took a year off after her sophomore year, when she first conducted molecular genetics research at UMass Medical School and then worked for a community health non-profit organization in Peru. She also went to India in the summer of 2013 with other Rochester students to perform a study on anti-smoking programs for youth in Ladakh.Kendall Hatch can be reached at 508-490-7453 or khatch@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @Kendall_HatchMW.

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